April 22, 2008

In This Issue:

• New Studies Examine Violent Deaths, Child Maltreatment
• Two Supreme Court Cases Could Affect Victims of Violence
• Sexual Assault Services Program Announced
• In The News
• New Resources
• In His Own Words
• Save The Date

NEW STUDIES EXAMINE VIOLENT DEATHS, CHILD MALTREATMENT

Two studies released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in April find that many people who die violently experience intimate partner violence and/or relationship problems beforehand, and tens of thousand of newborns and infants experience abuse or neglect.

Partner Violence Precedes Many Homicides
Nearly one in five homicides (19 percent) is precipitated by intimate partner violence, according to a new report from the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). Fifty-two percent of female homicides, and nine percent of male homicides, are precipitated by intimate partner violence. In addition, 32 percent of suicides are precipitated by a problem with an intimate partner.

The new study provides a detailed analysis of 2005 data from 16 states on all types of violent death, as well as information about the circumstances surrounding these deaths. It finds that there are some 50,000 violent deaths in the United States each year. Most of those deaths are suicides (more than 56 percent), while nearly 30 percent are homicides and deaths involving legal interventions, and another 13 percent are of undetermined intent.

Overall, men are more likely than women to die violently, and American Indians/Alaska Natives and African Americans have higher rates of violent death than whites and Hispanics. The rate of violent death is highest for people age 20 to 24, and the home is the most common location for all types of violent death.

There were about 200 violent incidents in which a homicide was followed by the suicide of the suspect in the 16 states in 2005. In those cases, 168 of the 225 murder victims were female, and 180 of the suspects who committed homicide and then suicide were male. The highest percentage of both homicide and suicide victims in these cases were age 35 to 44.

The report says that programs designed to enhance social problem-solving and coping skills, and skills dealing with stressful life events, have potential to reduce violence since relationship problems and intimate partner violence are precipitating factors in many types of violent death. It also recommends prevention programs aimed at addressing mental health problems and increasing education about the warning signs for violence.

The CDC’s NVDRS is a comprehensive reporting system that collects and centralizes data on violent deaths from death certificates, coroner/medical examiner reports, and law enforcement reports. The states participating in the study are Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin, and Virginia. The National Violence Prevention Network is working to expand it to every state.

Child Abuse and Neglect
In 2006, 91,278 infants under a year old experienced nonfatal abuse or neglect, including nearly 30,000 who experienced maltreatment in their first week of life. According to “Nonfatal Maltreatment of Infants,” 86 percent of the abuse and neglect cases involving the 29,881 newborns were reported to child protective services by professionals, most often medical staff or social service workers.

That same year, state and local child protective service workers substantiated that 905,000 children (under age 18) were victims of abuse or neglect.

“The concentration of reports of neglect in the first few days of life, and the preponderance of reports from medical professionals during the same period, suggest that neglect was often identified at birth,” it notes. “One hypothesis for the concentration of maltreatment and neglect reports in the first few days of life is that the majority of reports resulted from maternal or newborn drug tests.” Prenatal substance abuse test results are routinely reported to child protective service agencies as neglect. Many women, and pregnant women in particular, struggle to find drug treatment programs that will serve them.

“Establishing safe, stable, and nurturing relationships between children and adults is the vaccine against child abuse and neglect,” National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Director Ileana Arias, PhD said during an audio news conference. “We must support programs that inform and provide support for parents, families, and health professionals on how to ensure protected and nurturing environments for children.” She said maltreatment is the third leading cause of death for children under age one in this country.

Growing up in a violent home may be a terrifying and traumatic experience that can affect every aspect of a child’s life, growth, and development. Children who suffer from abuse and neglect are often at risk for poor health outcomes and may be more likely than other children to engage in risky behaviors during adolescence and adulthood.

“Nonfatal Maltreatment of Infants” defines physical abuse to include beating, kicking, biting, burning and shaking, and neglect to include abandonment, maternal drug use or failing to meet basic needs like housing, food, clothing and access to medical care.

The CDC and the Administration for Children and Families analyzed data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), which has been collecting annual data since 1993. The report is the first published national analysis of substantiated nonfatal maltreatment of infants using NCANDS data. Researchers were able to examine data from 45 states.

The CDC’s NVDRS findings were reported in the April 11 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Surveillance Summaries. To read the report click here. "Nonfatal Maltreatment of Infants” is in the April 4 edition of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. To read the entire article, click here.

TWO SUPREME COURT CASES COULD AFFECT VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases with implications for victims of domestic and sexual violence: Patrick Kennedy v. State of Louisiana; and Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle Co. Rulings are expected in both cases later this year.

Patrick Kennedy v. State of Louisiana
Since 1964, only people convicted of murder have been executed in the United States. In 1977, the Supreme Court prohibited the death penalty in cases where an adult is raped. In Patrick Kennedy v. State of Louisiana, the Court may decide whether a person who rapes a child also can be sentenced to death.

In 1998, Patrick Kennedy was convicted of the brutal rape of his then-eight-year-old stepdaughter. Court documents reveal that the child required surgery as a result of the assault. Louisiana is one of five states that have adopted laws allowing executions of people who rape children, and in 2004 Kennedy was sentenced to death. Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas have similar laws on the books, and other states are considering them. In this case, the Supreme Court may decide whether those state laws can stand.

Over the past several decades, the Supreme Court has interpreted society’s “evolving standards of decency” to limit use of the death penalty, removing juveniles, people with mental retardation, and adult rapists from death rows. Louisiana officials argue that the same “evolving standards of decency” that tightened restrictions for sentencing a person to death also dictate harsher punishment for criminals who violate children.

A coalition of violence prevention experts, service providers and social workers is asking the Court to disallow the use of the death penalty in cases of child rape, saying allowing executions of child rapists would compound the harm to the victim. The National Association of Social Workers and its Louisiana Chapter, Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and Texas Association Against Sexual Assault filed an amicus brief in support of Patrick Kennedy.

In the brief, they warn that allowing child rapists to be sentenced to death may discourage reporting because sexual assaults against children are often committed by family members or friends who would hesitate to turn in someone they know if doing so can result in that person being executed.

The brief also warns that equalizing penalties for child rape and murder may encourage abusers to kill their victims.

The groups also argue that, “The trauma caused by the extensive trial process itself and the prolonged notoriety the case will generate will be even more severe and long-lasting, greatly hindering the healing process” for the victim. It continues, “Imposing the same penalty for child rape as for murder will signal to child rape victims that society believes them to be as irreparably harmed as murder victims.”

To read the brief, click here.

Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle Co.
Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle Co. reviews tribal court jurisdiction concerning non-Indians entering into consensual relationships with Indians on reservation land. Although the case concerns a business dispute, advocates fear that the Supreme Court’s decision could broadly undermine tribal authority over perpetrators of domestic violence.

Many non-Indians live on reservation land and have consensual domestic relations with Native women who live in tribal communities. Some commit domestic violence. Indian tribes lack criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians and rely on their civil authority to protect women and girls. This civil authority is especially critical when the nearest state court sits hundreds of miles from the homes and communities where victims live.

Fifty organizations, including Sacred Circle, the National Resource Center to End Violence Against Native Women and the Family Violence Prevention Fund, filed an amicus brief designed to inform the Supreme Court of the broad unintended consequences this case may have, and what is at stake regarding the safety of Indian women.

Thirty members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians attended the oral arguments, to underscore their concern about how the ruling will affect the safety of Native women. Terri Henry, Principal Director of Clan Star, Inc., said, “It is well documented that Native women are victims of violence at far greater rates than any other populations of women in the United States. Violence committed by non-Indians against Native women is a national crisis. This case threatens to remove the only legal protection Native women have.”

To read the brief, click here.

SEXUAL ASSAULT SERVICES PROGRAM ANNOUNCED

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) announced a new Sexual Assault Services Program in April to support the establishment, maintenance and expansion of rape crisis centers and other programs and projects to assist victims.

In addition to establishing rape crisis centers, awards made through the program will help states, Indian tribes and territories provide intervention and related assistance services. These may include: 24-hour hotline services; accompaniment and advocacy through medical, criminal justice and social support systems including medical facilities, police and court proceedings; crisis intervention; and community-based, linguistically and culturally specific services and support mechanisms including outreach activities for underserved communities.

The new Program “will focus on providing improved services for sexual assault victims and a stronger criminal justice response to sexual assault crimes,” OVW Director Cindy Dyer said. “I look forward to working with sexual assault victim advocates, service providers and criminal justice professionals to implement this important program.”

Announcements regarding eligibility requirements, funding thresholds, and application procedures for the Sexual Assault Services Program is forthcoming. Once available, the grant solicitation will be posted on www.ovw.usdoj.gov.

OVW is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice. The Sexual Assault Services Program was authorized as part of the Violence Against Women Act and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005. More information is available here.

IN THE NEWS

NATIONAL – The Army is now granting waivers to one in eight new soldiers because they have criminal records or past misconduct; that is more than double the number of waivers it issued in 2004, USA Today reports. A recruit needs a waiver if he or she has one felony or serious misdemeanor, or more than three minor misdemeanors. No waivers are issued for serious offenses including sexual crimes, but domestic violence is sometimes reduced to a lesser charge. The Army needs to issue the waivers in order to meet its recruiting goals, officials say.

CA – University of Southern California students signed a petition urging Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) as part of the annual “Take Back the Night” event to raise awareness about sexual violence against women. Anatashia Lewis, a student who signed the petition, told the Daily Trojan that supporting I-VAWA is “something that gets overlooked a lot, and it should be seen as basic human rights, not just women’s rights.”

GA – Former professional wrestler Harrison Norris was sentenced to life in prison for repeatedly violating federal forced labor and sex trafficking laws by forcing women into prostitution. Norris ran a prostitution business in Atlanta beginning in 2001. He recruited and forced women, many of them poor, homeless or addicted to drugs, to work as prostitutes and servants after falsely promising to train them to become wrestlers. In a U.S. Department of Justice news release, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said, “This heinous conduct deserved the severe sentence handed down today. Human trafficking removes an individual’s freedom to choose and can have long-lasting, psychological effects on the victims.”

NE – Earlier this month an appeals court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront, who banned the words “rape,” “rape kit,” and “victim” in testimony in a sexual assault trial, the Associated Press reports. Tory Bowen sued, saying the judge’s orders violated her constitutional rights. Bowen’s attorney said she will appeal to the full appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

NJ – Lawyers at the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of ten plaintiffs, including two U.S. citizens, claiming that immigration agents used “deceit or in some cases, raw force” to systematically enter homes and make arrests without proper warrants, the New York Times reports. Maria Argueta says Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pounded on the doors and windows of her home at 4:30 AM on January 29, claiming to be police and demanding to be let in to search for a male criminal. The complaint says, “Without a search warrant, the ICE agents entered and searched Maria’s entire home, displaying their guns, then arrested her despite her Temporary Protection Status… Maria was detained for nearly 36 hours, and denied food or water for the first 24 hours of her detention. She was released without explanation or apology.”

NY – Cesar Rodriguez, stepfather of Nixzmary Brown, was sentenced to the maximum term of 26 to 29 years in prison on April 3. The death and discovery of seven-year-old Nixzmary’s battered and bruised body prompted an overhaul of the child welfare agency in 2006, after Rodriguez confessed that he routinely beat the child in an effort to correct her misbehavior. Nixzmary’s mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, is also charged with second degree murder and will be tried later this year, the New York Times reports.

TX – A district court judge has declared a five dollar per customer fee on strip club patrons unconstitutional. The fee was expected to raise $44 million for sexual assault prevention programs and health care for the uninsured. The judge ruled that the fee violated the First Amendment.

CAMBODIA – In an effort to stop human trafficking, the country has stopped processing documents for the marriage of its citizens to foreigners, the Canadian Press reports. The suspension follows a surge – 2,500 instances in the past four years – in Cambodian women marrying South Korean men. Officials have not announced how long the suspension will continue. Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs You Ay said the government does not want to deny Cambodians the right to marry foreigners, “but we have seen the negative aspects of such marriages.” Two South Korean matchmaking companies were shut down in March for being involved in human trafficking.

CANADA – Advocates for victims of violence are protesting the decision to detain a 19-year-old pregnant woman, just weeks away from giving birth, in a Milton jail for more than a week after she failed to appear and testify at her boyfriend’s domestic assault trial, the Toronto Star reports. Toronto police claim that they tried to serve Noellee Mowatt with a subpoena several times, and a judge issued a material warrant for her arrest when she failed to appear in court. Mowatt says she was living in shelters and a rooming house before her April 1 arrest, and that no detective had told her about the subpoena. She called police in December to report that her boyfriend, Christopher Harbin, had assaulted her. Mowatt told the Toronto Star, “I only made a mistake by calling the cops…I’m never calling the cops again.”

NEW RESOURCES

The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s (CALCASA’s) Report on Research on Rape and Violence, an annual compendium of statistics and research on sexual assault and other forms of community violence, is now available at www.calcasa.org/stat/CALCASA_Stat_2008.pdf.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway’s 2008 update of major federal legislation addressing child protection, child welfare, and adoption is now available online at www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/otherpubs/majorfedlegis.cfm. The publication summarizes the major provisions of key federal laws and includes a timeline of federal child welfare legislation. This year’s new features include links to the full-text of each act and a search function to let users browse or search the acts included in the publication.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

“I am not satisfied that we have a full picture of the number of sexual assaults perpetrated against these American contractors. Nor do I believe that the respective Departments have clear policies in place to address crimes committed by and against American contractors working alongside our troops. We’ve got an unprecedented number of contractors posted in war zones. If they are victimized by their colleagues or soldiers, they seem to end up in legal limbo. For example, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office of the Defense Department says it is not even aware of the procedures the military criminal investigative services would take if they encountered a civilian sexual assault or harassment case, except for referring the victim to medical treatment. I find this fact deeply disturbing. Further, there apparently is, quite simply, a lack of determination or desire on the part of the Justice Department to see criminal prosecution of these crimes.”

---Senator Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) opening statement at a Foreign Relations Subcommittee Hearing, “Closing Legal Loopholes – Justice for Americans Sexually Assaulted in Iraq and Afghanistan,” April 9, 2008

SAVE THE DATE

April 23, 2008, Los Angeles
Denim Day in LA 2008
Peace Over Violence is proud to present the 10th Annual Denim Day in LA 2008, a campaign to raise awareness and educate the public about rape and sexual assault. In 1998, an Italian Supreme Court decision overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore jeans. People all over the world were outraged, and wearing jeans became an international symbol of protest. Last year, on Denim Day an unprecedented 300,000 people signed up to wear jeans in support of raising awareness about the need to end sexual violence. To celebrate Denim Day in LA, wear your jeans as a visible sign of protest against the myths that still surround sexual assault. For more information, visit www.denimdayinla.org/.

April 23-24, 2008, Decatur, GA
Action through Alliance: Partnerships in Combating Modern Day Slavery
Tapestri, Inc. will hold the sixth annual Freedom Network Conference at the Holiday Inn in Decatur. The Freedom Network is a coalition of 25 nongovernmental organizations that provide services to and advocate for the rights of human trafficking survivors in the United States. Experts will hold workshops on cooperation between law enforcement and social services, media coverage of human trafficking, trends and effective case management, and more. For information, email cecilia@... and to register, visit http://freedomnetworkusa.eventbrite.com/.

April 29, 2008, Asheville, NC
Angela Shelton Day
Most sexual violence goes unreported, but to raise awareness and encourage reporting, Chicago-based PAVE (Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment) and filmmaker, author and activist Angela Shelton are encouraging victims to go to courthouses across the country to report abuse to authorities on April 29. The mayor of Asheville declared it “Angela Shelton Day,” and Shelton will report the abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of her father to police at the Buncombe County Courthouse in Asheville that day. April 29 is also the publication date of Shelton’s autobiography, “Finding Angela Shelton.” More information is available at www.Reportitnow.org including support for victims and news about the “Day.”

May 12-14, 2008, Calgary, AB, Canada
Joining Together: Changes and Challenges in Child Maltreatment
The Canadian Society for the Investigation of Child Abuse is holding a conference to highlight innovations, advances and challenges in the identification, investigation and management of child maltreatment. The conference will showcase forensic investigative strategies, practice interventions and current research. More information is available at www.csicainfo.com/.

May 28, 2008, Lake Placid, NY
Beyond the Obvious: Investigation and Intervention
The Essex County Task Force Against Domestic Violence and Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward are sponsoring a conference on domestic violence investigation and intervention training featuring retired Nashville, TN Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Mark Wynn. For more information, please call 518/962-8949.

May 28-31, Vancouver, BC
Fitting the Forum to the Family: Emerging Challenges for Family Courts
The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) presents its 45th annual conference at the Westin Bayshore Resort. A report from Professors Nancy Ver Steegh and Clare Dalton that addresses critical tensions raised by the growing awareness that not all uses of violence in intimate relationships are the same will be featured, both at the conference and in AFCC’s research and education journal, Family Court Review in July 2008. For more information, email afcc@... or call 608/664-3750.

June 5, 2008, Washington, DC
Teen Center Annual Conference 2008: A Law Enforcement Symposium
Break the Cycle presents its 2008 Conference at The Carlyle Suites. It will provide innovative training, support critical dialogue, and explore best practices for law enforcement responding to teen dating violence. Representatives from Break the Cycle, Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, National Center for Victims of Crime, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape will participate in short presentations and group discussions. For more information, contact teencenter@....

July 18-23, Washington, DC
Building Grassroots Leadership for Social Justice
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence will hold its 30th Anniversary Conference at the Omni Shoreham, and a special legislative action day on July 22. More information is available at www.ncadv.org.